SCS Advertising Final Assignment

Megan Yim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTAQYdL8CwU

What is the brand positioning?

Royal Caribbean International positions its brand to provide a plethora of experiences into one
cruise vacation experience. In this video ad, the editing shows very short clips of all the
entertainment, dining, and accommodation experiences that the Harmony of the Seas ship
offers along with the European ports of call that the cruise
will sail to. The short clips is set against a music track in the
background with the lyrics “get it” repeating over and over
again. In this light, Royal Caribbean seeks to provide a
unique experience for its cruisers, offering a wide variety of
dining experiences (as it shows different clips of the
restaurants on the ship), to entertainment sources (live
shows, ziplining,
slides), to the European ports of call featuring their on
land tour excursions. Further, rather than just showing
the food options available or activities offered to
guests, the cruise line features clips of actual guests
experiencing these offerings (left image), and at one
clip, the guest is holding a GoPro as he rides the water
slide (right image). With this ad, Royal Caribbean
continues its brand positioning as a cruise line that “offers it all”.
Describe the target audience (i.e. segmentation strategy)
Target Audience:
In this Royal Caribbean ad for their ship, Harmony of the Seas,
the cruise line seems to be targeting families and newly married
couples with established incomes to join this cruise ship. Families
with children ages 3-17 would be most suitable for this cruise ship
since it offers a variety of activities from water slides, to rock
climbing, and ziplining (left
image). However, these
activities are also suitable for adults with a “big kid”
attitude. For married couples, Royal’s target here would be
newly married or couples without children around mid-20s
to mid-30s (right image). In general, guests who can afford
Royal Caribbean cruises often come from a stable financial
household income as spending extra money on cruise
vacations is a luxury. For the most part, this ad seems to be targeting individuals in North
America and in the States. Royal Caribbean is an American brand and most if not all of the
guests portrayed in this ad are Caucasian (right image). Royal would not likely target this
towards European residents even though Harmony of the Seas will be sailing to the
Mediterranean. The reason to believe
this lies in that Europe has plenty of
cruise lines that sail to these ports
already, with their own specific offerings
in different European languages. Royal’s
cruises are predominantly English with a
bit of Spanish to pay homage to the
American national languages.
Royal Caribbean understands its
behavioural audience quite well – they
know that their audience checks social media regularly and values high quality footage. In this
way, their Youtube channel is quite active with their video advertisements to entice guests to
book a vacation with them.
What is the advertising objective? Explain your answer.
The advertising objective in this video is to maintain and fulfill consumers’ expectations of
what Royal Caribbean sets out to do. They are known for their innovative ships that include
rock climbing, zip lining and unique restaurant experiences. By showing all of these
experiences in quick short clips, it gives off an impression that there is simply “so much” to
show off that they must do it in a quick manner in order to keep the video to approximately a
minute long. This ad does not compare the Royal cruise line to other cruise lines, nor does it
feature any text until the end where it states “Come Seek” with the logo in between the words.
This seems to be Royal’s strategy to use guests experiencing their offerings in the video rather
than explaining it through text or a voiceover.
What appears to be the key benefit(s) and reason to believe?
The key benefit conveyed through this ad is the amount of experiences that Royal Caribbean
provides to its guests in their week long cruise vacations. The fact that a guest can experience
so much on a ship while visiting a different part of the world is supposed to be a unique and
innovative experience that other cruise ships don’t
always offer, or at least, effectively. Again, the reason
to believe this is demonstrated through the strategic
editing – with the fast paced music and the constant
“get it” lyrics repeating in the background. The idea is
that the consumer should go “get” the experience by
booking with Royal Caribbean. In regards to the actual
experience, a clip of Jaime Olivier putting on the
finishing touches to a dish at the Jaime Olivier restaurant portrays the “benefit” of having an
internationally renowned culinary experience (right image). This attracts consumers into
believing that Royal offers the top of the line dining options with one of the world’s most
famous chefs.
What is the Big Idea? How does the Big Idea differ from others in it’s category (i.e.
competitive brands) Please include competitor ad(s)
The Big Idea of this ad is Royal Caribbean’s ability and aim to offer their guests a fun, energetic,
and varied experience on their cruise vacation. As explained previously, the various clips
showing all the dining and entertainment experiences shows a fun filled experience for its
cruisers while visiting Europe at the same time. Royal Caribbean also does this through the
absence of voice overs and minimal text in the video.
One of Royal Caribbean’s top competitors, Norweigan Cruise Line, has an extremely similar
commercial uploaded on Youtube. The commercial features a wide and then narrow pan of
the cruise ship, GoPro footage of guests, and clips of the various experiences that Norweigan
offers. Norweigan’s “Big Idea”, however, differs from Royal because they promote the notion
of being “free” and “coming alive” when boarding the ship. The commercial shows guests
dancing in the ship night club, and features text that states “Feel free to come alive”. Royal’s
“Big Idea” is more about featuring experience after experience, while Norweigan is promoting
a “freeing” lifestyle when onboard, away from the pressures of daily life.
Another one of Royal’s competitors is Carnival Cruises. Carnival’s Big Idea is portrayed through
their commercial uploaded here. Their “Big Idea” is the “fun ship” – that this cruise line
provides ships that offer ultimate fun to their guests. However, Carnival seems to feature less
footage of their ships and more about what you can see when you board their ships – the
dolphins in one clip. It is also important to note that Carnival is not as active in their
commercial on Youtube, but rather features more interviews and explicatory videos on their
channel.
What creative appeal techniques are used?
Royal Caribbean uses a “positive” appeal technique in this ad coupled with a “lifestyle”
technique. The commercial features bright colours with energetic music played in the
background. It is clear that the commercial is set out to have the consumer feeling good and
positively after watching the advertisement. The commercial also features guests looking
happy and excited to be on the ship; as well as amazed at seeing the European sights.
The other technique, lifestyle, is used because they are targeting towards a specific audience
that might like to indulge in the type of vacationing that Royal offers. In other words, more
mature couples or some individuals who may not prefer such an “active” vacation or cruise
experience may not prefer Royal. They may not like the plethora of entertainment activities
on board. As a result, Royal specifically concentrates their editing on their target audience,
through the lifestyle of having fun and making the most of the cruise experience in an
innovative and unique manner.
Consider the various creative and design considerations and explain effectiveness. (various
weeks)
Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas commercial creatively edits their video clips to match
the beat of the background music. The song is upbeat and every time the notes change, a new
clip is brought to the viewer. In this way, the consumer’s thoughts and experience move with
the music, rather than led by a voiceover or captions that influence the consumer’s thoughts.
Here, the consumer is only given visuals that move with the music, providing a more “party-
like” and “montage” effect, unlike a traditional commercial. Further, the opening and closing
of the commercial features a camera panning around the size of the ship, demonstrating the
size and grandeur of the ship. Royal Caribbean is known for their large ship sizes, so this was a
good way to capture their size through a camera lens.
What other media channels would you recommend to extend the campaign? Why?
I would recommend a video ad on Instagram or Facebook. Currently I see that Royal Caribbean
updates their Instagram and other social media feeds quite frequently, but it seems they do
not pay for advertising through these channels. It might be helpful to have some sponsored ad
videos demonstrating the new ships or cruise itineraries while scrolling through social media to
captivate user’s attentions.
Another media channel I would recommend is through podcast sponsorships. During podcasts
that target towards young professionals, Royal could have the podcaster do a 30 second
promotional about the brand and what the cruise line has to offer.